Disney forbids LA Times to cover events

With the Thanksgiving & Christmas holidays soon coming up, various outlets have begun to publish their film preview guides with The Los Angeles Times publishing theirs this week. However the said guide finds a notable absentee namely Disney Pictures, the biggest film studio on the planet at this juncture.

The paper explains the same in a statement:

“This year, Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer The Times advance screenings, citing what it called unfair coverage of its business ties with Anaheim. The Times will continue to review and cover Disney movies and programs when they are available to the public.”

Long time L.A. Times reporter Glenn Whipp, who broke the James Toback sexual harassment and assault story this year, also began a thread on Twitter explaining the statement and indicated that the outlet wasn’t invited to the press screening of Thor: Ragnarok because they’re under a temporary ban.

Disney’s action is a clear indication of how Robert Iger feels about journalism and a free press.This is significant because the Disney boss is said to harbor political ambitions when he retires from Disney in 2019. Is this, how he would react to reporters asking touch questions should he run for office? Also wondering: How does @ABC feel about this action?”

Disney has yet to respond publicly. With the apparent ban, the studio has had arguably the opposite effect of what they intended like putting the spotlight directly on the original two-part story which explores the one-sided relationship the company has with Anaheim including squeezing the city for subsidies, incentives, rebates and protections from future taxes.

This follows on from reports earlier this week that the corporate giant had issued somewhat harsh penalties on top of already strict conditions for cinema owners who want to show Star Wars: The Last Jedi.